Entries tagged with “tension”.

There are several types of headaches that can be resolved through massage. There are pressure points on the head and neck that can alleviate tension headaches as well and sinus headaches. These pressure points reboot your computer (brain) and tell the nerves to stop sending the pain message. The tension headaches can be caused by tight or pinched muscles in the head, neck or jaw. Their can also be tight muscle in your upper back (trapezoid and or rhomboids) that will cause pain in back, neck and sometimes your head. So if you want to eliminate the pain associated with these tight muscles, 90% of the time massaging the head, neck, jaw and upper back will take care of this pain.

How would I start the massage? Sometimes the way to start is by helping someone relax, this will make it easier for you to massage the muscles. Have the person sit in a comfortable chair that has a low back. Put on some soft music and lower the lighting in the room. This will slow the person’s breathing and put them in a more meditate state. The idea is to engage the parasympathetic nervous system – the rest and restore mechanism in your brain; this is where healing occurs. Once you have the environment set, now it is time to do the work.

The best place to start is to put your hands on the person’s head and take a deep breath yourself; if you are not in a relaxed position the other person will not be in a relaxed position.

Apply some pressure to the person’s head and massage as if you are shampooing their hair. Everyone loves the shampoo bowl! Make sure that you cover the entire head, this helps the person reach a more meditative state.

Place both hands on the neck and slide your hands down with a firm grip once. Then you want to take one thumb and apply strokes from top to bottom of one side of the neck approximately 3 or 4 times. Do the same thing with your other thumb to the other side of their neck.

Place your hands on the person’s shoulders and give them a firm massage with both hands. If you feel a knot, apply pressure to the knot and count to 10, then come off gentle while moving in a circle. If the knot doesn’t go away, don’t worry, just move on and the knot will resolve itself in time.

The last part is the face. Apply feather strokes over with your finger tips over the forehead, nose and cheeks, and the chin. Place your hands on either side of the person’s jaw, apply pressure and massage in circles. Any tension in the jaw caused from headaches should subside. (This is also a good area to massage often if you grind your teeth, clinch your jaw or have TMJ).

If you would like to come in a get a professional head massage, come in and enjoy and Indian Head Massage. This massage is all about deep relaxation. I massage the head, neck, shoulder, arms and face. You do not have to take your clothes off and it last approximately 40 minutes. Enjoy the relaxtion of a head massage!